Incoming air cargo sanitized several times

Airport management stressed that all cargo arriving at Macau International Airport (MIA) would go through several rounds of sanitization before being delivered to the city.

Workers in the sanitization process are also managed carefully to avoid the virus spreading into the city, the airport’s management companies added.

Yesterday, the Civil Aviation Authority (AACM) and the MIA Co. Ltd. (CAM) hosted a press briefing on the airport tarmac to introduce the virus containment efforts the two entities have put in place.

Once an aircraft parks after arrival, its cargo deck will be sprayed with sanitizer before being closed for 10 minutes. After this period, the cargo boxes will be unloaded from the aircraft. The boxes will be sanitized once again on the tarmac.

The cargo will then be towed by the airport’s ground service providers to the assembly point at the entrance of the cargo storage, where cargo will once again be sanitized. Cargo unboxing will also happen here.

During his introduction, Taft Lam, AACM’s director of airport infrastructure and air navigation, told the press that the aviation industry of the city has been instructed to follow the national and local policy of guarding against import and relapse cases.

As such, he said the authority has requested all industry practitioners to stay tuned to and comply with guidelines issued by the Health Bureau and the AACM. The guidelines, he said, are updated constantly in response to the changing situation.

He added that all arriving flights are allocated different handling methods according to their origin. Workers are required to wear protective gear that is appropriate for the particular level of risk.

Further, Chan Hou Lon, CAM’s senior airport supervisor of the airport operations department, added that all workers handling sanitization of cargo from mid to high risk origins are required to be fully suited with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and wear N95 masks.